As top ULFA(I) leader joins BJP, what it means for peace talks in Assam
Rabha was inducted into the BJP along with a set of other leaders, including the Aam Aadmi Party's former Assam state-in-charge Manoj Dhanowar.
Speaking about Rabha's entry into the BJP, Assam BJP chief Dilip Saikia said he has 'assimilated into our mainstream society for quite a while now'.
'He has left guns and bullets and entered the politics of ballots. What we have been saying for a very long time is 'Bye bye to bullet and welcome to ballot'… We, along with the central government, are always telling Paresh Baruah [ULFA(I)'s commander-in-chief] that bullets and talks cannot go together. The Constitution does not permit it. There can be talks… That is what we want, but Assam has to be peaceful,' he said.
One of the BJP's biggest talking points in Assam is the numerous peace pacts its governments have signed with various insurgent groups in the state, but ULFA(I) under Baruah's leadership is the only one that has repeatedly refused to enter peace talks.
A pro-talks faction of the ULFA had signed a tripartite peace pact with the Union and state government in December 2023, but the ULFA(I) has resisted coming to the table for talks without discussing sovereignty for Assam.
Rabha, 55, is from Western Assam's Goalpara district. He was known to be a close confidant of Baruah and was the deputy commander-in-chief of ULFA (I). His surrender in November 2020 had been hailed by the central government as 'a major blow' to the outfit that was 'ushering a new dawn of peace in the region'.
He had been an active member of the outfit for three decades, was a well-known Improvised Explosive Device (IED) expert, and headed the outfit's operations in Western Assam. His parents — Dhaneswar Rabha and Sushila Rabha — had been killed in 1999 in the infamous 'secret killings' of Assam. These were extra-judicial killings of close relatives of numerous ULFA leaders by unidentified killers between 1998 and 2001.
Rabha's formal induction into the BJP comes amidst criticism over the government's handling of the ULFA(I). It took place days after the ULFA(I) claimed that its camps in Myanmar along the border in India had been bombed in a 'drone attack' by Indian forces in which three of its senior functionaries had been killed.
While the Indian Army has denied information on such an operation and the Assam state government has distanced itself from it, the alleged operation has drawn criticism from both civil society groups and opposition parties in Assam as being detrimental to the cause of facilitating talks with the ULFA (I).
'Sudden and unprovoked attacks of this nature could disrupt the peace process, which neither the people of Assam nor AASU desires,' the All Assam Students' Union had said in a statement.
Opposition parties such as the Congress and the Asom Jatiya Parishad have also questioned the implications of the incident on future peace talks. Assam Congress chief Gaurav Gogoi claimed that 'precision strikes' could not have taken place without the knowledge of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Sarma. He asked: 'What is the reason that the approach of dialogue and peace has been abandoned in favour of killing youths from Assam in precision attacks?'
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